Murphy’s Law, toothaches and hot air balloons

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” The dental corollary of Murphy’s Law (a.k.a. Murphy’s Law of Toothaches) is “if you’re going to have a dental emergency it will happen on the weekend or when you’re out of town or both.”

Last Friday I was working at the Midland office and had the opportunity to treat a patient with a toothache. Toothaches are incredibly common and the aforementioned Murphy’s Law of Toothaches was in full swing. The patient was visiting the area from Georgia* to participate in a yearly local hot air balloon event in Midland. He was the “crew captain” and was in charge of setting the balloon up and tracking it from the ground. And, as Murphy would have it, he had a terrible toothache. Tyler* told me that he knew he had tooth troubles and had plans to get some work done in the upcoming year.

But then he took a trip to Michigan…and he didn’t realize Murphy had decided to come along for the ride.

Now I ask you…if you were a hot air balloon pilot would you want your crew chief distracted by a bad toothache? I know I wouldn’t.

The story actually had a great ending. We were able to diagnose and treat the offending tooth and Tyler was soon feeling 100% again. In fact, he was feeling so good that he invited his dentist to go for a balloon ride later that weekend. And I did.

What’s the moral of this story?

First, remember Murphy’s Law of Toothaches. If you’ve got teeth that you know you need some work…just do it!

Second, if you do get in trouble on the road you can check out our Dental Referral Network to see if there are any recommended dentists close to where you’re travelling. Otherwise call our emergency line at (989) 488-7665 and I’ll do my best to help you find help.